Several Clinton County players took down a Pickett County player during the home opener Friday night at Bulldog Field. Clinton County lost the game, 17-15.

Despite one of the better efforts by the Clinton County Football team Friday night, Clinton County was defeated in its first outing of the season, 17-15, by Pickett County, Tenn.

Clinton County scored the first two points of the game on a safety, followed by a touchdown and extra point to reach a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.

“Not taking care of the football is our biggest problem,” Head Coach Jamie Miller said.

Miller said as a team, 10 penalties were called against the Bulldogs.

“Basically those 10 negative plays and when you have that against what you are trying to do on offense, it makes it hard,” Miller said. “We have to work on taking care of the football. I think a lot of that was complacency. We jumped up on them 9-0 and we aren’t use to that. They didn’t know how to react.”

Pickett County then came back and scored in the second quarter, cutting the lead to one point, 9-8. Just before halftime, Pickett County kicked a field goal to lead, 11-9.

“I’m not going to take anything away from Pickett County. They came back and ran the ball up the field and cut the lead,” Miller said. “At halftime we came in and got a little fired up and went out and back down the field we go.”

During the second half, Clinton County put together a good offensive run to score a touchdown, but missed the extra point to put the Bulldogs up 15-11.

“It was a fantastic drive,” Miller said. “We were going back and forth between Gabe Stalcup and J.D. Speck and five plays later we were in the end zone.”

During the middle of the fourth quarter, Pickett County found the end zone to move ahead, 17-15, and what would be the final score of Friday night’s game.

“For whatever reason, we have to learn to take care of the football and not put ourselves in bad situations,” Miller said. “I’ve watched film all weekend and relived it over and over again, and there is nothing I would do differently. I thought our game was sound offensively and defensively and I thought our guys were ready to play. Execution doesn’t work when you turn the ball over.”

It’s been a long drought for the team, but optimism remains high in the locker room as Miller puts Friday night’s game behind him and looks a head to this week’s match up against Trimble County.

“We’ve played well with them the last two years. They have one phenomenal football player. We have got into the same situation with Trimble County the past two years that we got into with Pickett County Friday night,” Miller said. “We need to cut down on the careless mistakes … that should be our number one priority. If we do that then things should go okay for us. Friday night’s game is a game I feel like we gave away.”

This coming Friday night’s game against Trimble County will kick off at 7 p.m. at Bulldog Field.

Following Friday night’s game, Clinton County will be on the road for four weeks, followed by a home game on October 4, against Lynn Camp.

The Clinton County Marching Band, along with the JROTC presented the colors and played the National Anthem at Friday night’s home football games against Pickett County, Tenn. Clinton County lost the game by two points, 17-15.

Junior Cole Nelson made a catch and good run during the first quarter Friday night against Pickett County. Nelson’s run, combined with the photo below where Gabe Stalcup ran the ball into the endzone was Clinton County’s first touchdown of the game.